Thanks for making Clear Lines a success!

We’re proud to say the first-ever Clear Lines Festival was a great success! From last Thursday until Sunday, Old Paradise Yard in Lambeth hosted a truly special gathering of speakers, artists, survivors, experts, and festival-goers — all eager to engage in an open, honest, authentic conversation about sexual assault and consent. We could not have done this without the support of our crowdfunders, sponsors, performers, panelists, volunteers and YOU. So thank you for following us on this journey. We’ll now be taking a break to recover, and then have a think about where to take Clear Lines in the future.

Tears and laughter

Many of our events were sold-out, with an estimated 500 people coming to participate at Clear Lines. At our Theatre Night, tears were shed both in the audience and by our artists during the Q&A after these hard-hitting performances. And at our Comedy Night, we shook with laughter listening to Josie Long, Sarah Kendall, Stuart Black, and our MC and curator Tiff Stevenson. Bridget Christie gave us a special preview of her Edinburgh show, and poets from the Burn After Reading Collective moved us with their insightful, elegant readings at our closing event. Panels like ‘Where have all the good men gone?’ and ‘Sex and intimacy after Sexual Violence‘ had our audiences fully engaged in heated discussions with our panelists and performers.

“It was an amazing experience. although very intense, it felt a safe space where vulnerability could be shared and I felt there was also a bit of collective healing.”

“What you’ve done is pretty miraculous and you could see how the festival lit up those people. I haven’t experienced such positivity and hope like that, possibly, ever, especially in the face of such a tough subject.”

“Thank you for organising such an incredible festival. Words fail me sometimes, when I need them most, they start falling away the moment I think of how it is one thing to be a survivor and it is another thing altogether to make things happen, like the festival, so that someone else can survive, can continue surviving – because I do believe it is an ongoing process, a constant working through it. Your festival, helped me do that, helped so many others do it, or at least know how to deal with it a little better. People will have woken up this morning a little bit changed because of you, because of what you made happen.”

Clear Lines in the News

We’ve been thrilled by press coverage of Clear Lines, organised by festival sponsor On Road, including this Channel 4 News segment which aired on Monday:

On the Friday morning of the festival, comedian Tiff Stevenson and our co-founder Dr Nina Burrowes spoke on local BBC Radio stations throughout the UK, discussing the use of comedy in addressing sexual assault. Our other co-founder Winnie M Li did the same, and also appeared on BBC Radio Ulster last night. Her story as a survivor-turned-activist was also covered by the Irish News and the Daily Mail. Our media panelist Radhika Sanghani wrote this Telegraph article about our revenge porn panel, and Vice magazine featured our visual artist Ela Xora.

We’d love to hear what you thought of Clear Lines, so please spare a few moments to fill out a quick survey. We’d be really grateful.

Or you could email us at info@clearlines.org.uk — what was your favourite event? How has coming to the festival changed your attitude towards sexual assault and the people it affects? Your feedback will help us plan for the future.

What’s next?

Many people have said they’d like to see Clear Lines again in the future — or in other parts of the UK. We are a small team of volunteers and need to think long and hard about what we can do next. In the meantime, we’ll be sending out thank you packages to our crowdfunders and editing our videos of the festival. Johanna Ward is working on her photographic project ‘The Watchful Eyes’, which some of you participated in. But do spread the word about Clear Lines and what you got out of it!

Comments

Thank you for organising such a great festival. So many things struck me, but one of the really positive things was that survivors were not portrayed as people sitting in a corner with their heads bowed unable to do very much. I felt very much that survivors were portrayed as strong, but perviously hurt individuals who whilst acknowledging their pain were not consumed by it.
For me, Clear Lines has given me an opportunity to have conversations with people about sexual assault and what it actually means. It has opened the door in new ways for those to happen
Next Festival, I will clear the diary!

Trackbacks

[…] Overall, there was a lot of press generated about the festival. We were covered by The Telegraph, the Daily Mail, Time Out London, The Huffington Post, among others. And I had a live television interview on London Live and some live radio interviews on various local BBC stations. Check out our press here and you can read our wrap-up blog post on Clear Lines here. […]